


Race Against Time

by Social_Outcast



Category: The Medoran Chronicles - Lynette Noni
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-27 19:04:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15031265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Social_Outcast/pseuds/Social_Outcast
Summary: “I’ll Claim you again myself if I have to!”“You know that won’t work.”In which Alex manages to save Niyx's life at the end of Graevale, but at what cost?





	Race Against Time

**Author's Note:**

> I just love Niyx, okay? He needs to be alive.   
> This fic mixes up a few things from the scene of death, namely that Niyx explaining to Alex about Vae'varka happens before she declares she'll claim him, because, thats how I wrote it ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

“I’ll Claim you again myself if I have to!”   
“You know that won’t work.” Alex shook her head, refusing to believe, refusing to accept it.   
“There has to be a way. There is a way!” Tears were streaming down her face now, clouding her view. Alex didn’t care. Her Meyarin blood allowed her to see past it. “There’s always a way. Always a choice. You told me that!” Her hands were gripping his wound, trying to hold it together herself. His blood was splattered everywhere, new liquid welling up under her hands. The red liquid mixing with his silver told her she had a cut herself, probably on her own hand, but she couldn’t care less, except for the small part of her brain that recognised he’d have a matching injury - more blood loss.   
Alex’s mind was racing a mile a minute, dancing through ideas and dreams. She knew she could save him. What was the point of her Gift, her willpower, that everyone told her she had a choice, if she couldn’t use it to save his life? She wished she could activate the _Valispath_ and take him to the academy. Fletcher would know what to do. And if he didn’t, someone would, Kaiden or Maggie or - her mind flicked back. Kaiden had mentioned something about _Vae’varka_ how it showed up in ancient texts with _A’enara_. She’d thought it was a person but now she knew. It was a blade. Aven’s blade. And if her blade, if _A’enara_ was the Bringer of Light, and Aven’s blade was made out of _traesos_ , darkness, maybe. Just maybe. She’d already cut through the prison walls with _A’enara_. She knew it could break it. Taking one hand from Niyx’s wound, she took one millisecond to steel herself, summoning _A’enara_ with the same breath. Some part of her recognised that Niyx had fallen unconscious, but her Meyarin hearing could still recognise the slow – too slow – beating of his heart. Alex raised _A’enara_ , pulling back her other hand, and plunged it into Niyx’s chest, into the already open wound. Like when Claiming – or Releasing – someone, everything took a moment before happening, shuddering in the still, frozen, air.   
The flames dancing along the blade grew and shrunk at once, trailing up Alex’s arms before plunging into the sloshing silver still flowing freely from her friend. At the same time, there was a rush of pressure, bursting out and forcing Alex back, except that she couldn’t move, couldn’t release her hands from the hilt or take the blade out of the injury.   
A ripping scream cut through the air, the hurt of loss and sorrow combining with the pain of the moment. As her throat cut off the scream, the power calmed down, freeing Alex to move. She yanked the blade out of her friend’s wound, watching as it rapidly healed, not completely, but now less life threatening. Simultaneously, blackness flew out of the injury, a solid cloud of shadow hovering over Niyx’s chest. The only thing Alex had time to register was Soraya’s growl before the cloud flowed away from Niyx and towards her. She was unconscious before she hit the ground. 

 

Niyx woke to pain. Glaring pain in his chest, ripping through his stomach, setting fire to his insides. His brain ran, trying to remember what had happened, where he was. Aven. The blade, the _Vae’varka_ , the stab, Aeylia, Alex, a mountain. _I should be dead_. The thought came to him, as he started to realise he was cold. _Why aren’t I dead?_ He sat up, slowly, minding his stomach. Looking down at it, it didn’t look so bad, the blood had congealed, and the wound looked to be healing. Which wasn’t right, nothing could heal a Meyarin from _traesos_ , from the poison of the darkness. A whimper entered the back of his mind, but Niyx was too busy marvelling at the impossible, which had somehow, _inexplicably_ , happened.   
“I guess you were right, Kitten,” his voice was rough, but it was his. And the pain proved that he was alive. Somehow, _gloriously_ , alive. He glanced up, looking for Aeylia, and realised what the whine had been. Aeylia was lying on the ground next to him, Soraya licking her face ineffectually. Niyx would have told the wolf to stop, but he was to busy staring at Aeylia. For there, in the centre of her chest, was a wound. A harsh, ragged wound. The wound _he_ had received from Aven.   
“Oh Kitten,” he whispered, more to himself than her, “what have you done now?” He crawled over to her, registering for the first time that his wound should be worse because they were still Bonded, still connected. His hand brushed against a plant and he scooped up the _laendra_ , knowing even as he did that it would work for her no more than it had for him. He ripped the bulb apart and poured it over the gaping hole in her chest, watched as it fizzled and rose as steam, boiling off her, ineffectual against the pure darkness she had somehow taken from him. Soraya butted her nose under his arm, lifting his hand from her chest.   
“Go away,” he nudged her, taking his arm back. He wouldn’t, _couldn’t_ let her die. Not after she had somehow saved him. He just needed to figure out how. Soraya whined again, nudging her nose under his elbow and lifting his arm again, dropping it to fall beside the body. Niyx stared wordlessly at the girl, who he considered his sister in every way but blood – and then, maybe still, considering her blood flowing through him from the Claiming, - failing to reject the wolf this time. Soraya growled in what he might have considered annoyance, had he been paying the animal any mind, then nudged her nose into his hand again. Niyx finally looked down as his hand bumped into something both cold and warm. Her hand. Aeylia’s hand. His sister’s hand. He stared at it, dumbstruck. That hand was too cold. Too cold. Soraya whined again, pacing around Aeylia, before reaching her starting point and, after nudging Niyx’s hand closer to Aeylia’s once more, began to lick the girl’s hand. The hand that was covered in silver blood, his blood. As he watched, the wolf licked up the blood until her hand was clear – or would be, if it were not for the still bleeding cut on her hand, a faint trail of red over her pale white. Soraya nudged his hand again, and Niyx brought it up to his view to see - through the dirt and muck – that he had a matching cut, streaking out, perpendicular to the Claiming cuts he had.   
Suddenly, Niyx realised what Soraya was suggesting, _telling_ him to do. Aeylia had shared her lifeforce with him to save his life, twice now. It was his turn to return the favour. Sucking in a breath and closing his eyes for just a moment to gather his thoughts, Niyx reached out before he could regret it and grabbed Aeylia’s hand, muttering under his breath,   
“ _Trae Menada sae, Aeylia._ ”  
He’d experienced the feeling of being Claimed before, from her and, mutedly, from Aven, but never before the feeling of _Claiming_ someone. There was a rush of adrenaline, of _power_ which he quickly clamped down on, before the excruciating pain in his chest flared up again, sending him flying onto his back, even while still clinging onto Aeylia’s hand. His chest was pounding but he needed to know if she would be okay, so he forced himself back up. Before he could register what was happening with her wound, his eyes drew him back to his own, suddenly glowing wound. Except, that it wasn’t glowing so much as above it was. Glancing back to Aeylia, he finally noticed her wound was glowing with the same light, but unlike his, her light was flickering, fluctuating, as it battled with the darkness from which the wound had come. Niyx watched the dancing lights, flickering like a flame in a wind, until he felt the world spin again, and his head hit the snow. 

Next time Niyx woke, it was to a gentle slap to his face. He reached up to grab the hand, mumbling “Don’t” and rolling over, taking the hand with him. A girl’s voice interrupted his thoughts,   
“Niyx, wake up. Please.” He snuggled further in on himself, muttering,   
“Give me five more minutes, May.” He felt a strange tug in his stomach, heard a strangled sound behind him, and then, silence. Niyx smiled, grateful that his sister had give him the time he asked for, even as he realised that his bed was hard. And cold. And … wet? He sat up with a start and found that he was not at home with his sister, hadn’t been for thousands of years. Instead he realised where he was as the memories came flooding back, jail, Aven, Aeylia, Graevale, the stab from _Vae’varka_ , Aeylia somehow saving his life, him returning the favour by – by Claiming her. His eyes swung around to meet hers, staring at him and struggling with her mouth.   
“Aeylia, I – I.” He broke off. “Oh stars, I am so sorry!” she shook her head, no, even as she still struggled with her mouth. Belatedly, he realised that his request of ‘five more minutes’ must have translated to an order, and he quickly said “Please, ignore any orders I may have given you.” Her eyes shifted slightly as her mouth finally opened, a jumble of indistinguishable words pouring out before she could stop them. Her eyes were broken, even as she spoke again.   
“No. No Niyx, don’t be sorry. You-” her voice hitched, “I was expecting to die! You _saved_ me! Never be sorry for that!” she held his eyes until he looked away.   
“And here I thought I was supposed to be the one in charge now,” he muttered, cracking a smile on her face. “But seriously, Aeylia, how did you manage to save me? That should have been impossible!” she looked over to her other hand, the one he wasn’t still – he belatedly realised – holding. There, sitting in it was _A’enara_. Unlike before, however, the flames dancing around the blade were gone.   
“ _A’enara_ is known as the Bringer of Light,” she muttered, “And it’s cut through _traesos_ before, so I thought…” she trailed off, leaving the specifics unclear, but he realised her implication. She had somehow used _A’enara_ to counter the darkness brought by its opposite, _Vae’varka_. In consequence it seemed, the flames had disappeared from the blade.   
“Well, you did it Kitten, so thank you.” He held her gaze until this time it was her who looked away.   
“And then you Claimed me?” It was half a question, half a statement, but he answered anyway.   
“Yes. I couldn’t let you die!” he quirked a small smile, “for all I know, it would have killed me too.”   
“Now.” He stood up, and reached to help her, but at her wince instead joined her in sitting again. “I need to release you.” He stated. She looked at him uncertain,   
“Does that mean we won’t be bonded anymore?” He returned her look with one of kind.   
“I suppose that depends on whether you accept it or not,” he admitted. Then his mind made a jump.   
“Or, if you don’t – or rather, I don’t, then you can break from me, same as you did with Aven.” Her expression shifted to confusion,   
“why would I want to do that?” he smiled at her.   
“Because, then, you’d be able to use the _Valispath_ , and all your Meyarin abilities that you can’t because Aven’s been banished.” He explained. Her eyes lit for a second, before dimming again.   
“No, I can’t. I can’t do that to you. I don’t know what it did to Aven, because I was unconscious and then he was gone, and – I’m not going to risk hurting you.”   
“Yes, you need to. Don’t you see, Aeylia? This would give you an advantage over Aven, something you can do that he can’t – something _Meyarin_ at that.”   
“No, no I won’t.” she refused to look at him.   
“Kitten, you need this.” He told her, imploring her to agree, to realise.   
“I don’t want to hurt you.” She restated.   
“You said yourself that you don’t know that it will hurt me,” he reminded her, “And, for better or worse, right now, I’m the one in charge, so either you do this, or-” his voice faulted as he realised the enormity of what he was about to say – to do if he had to. “Or,” his voice was quieter now, suddenly he was the one unable to meet her gaze. “Or, I’ll order you to do it and either you can defy the order and break the bond as a result, or you can follow the order, and-” She was staring at him. She knew it was madness. He knew it was madness. But she needed this and he’d already given up so much to save Medora, to make sure the future she’d shown him wouldn’t come to pass.   
“Kitten, I don’t want to force you to do this, but please, understand that you need this.” Her face was turned away again, so he reached up to grab her chin, bring her face around until she met his eyes. “You’ve saved my life – twice now – so please, let me return the favour.” Her mouth didn’t move, but he heard her thought – whether she’d sent it to him intentionally or not – of   
_You already have_. He held her eyes as he replied in kind,   
_Then let me even it up – we’re two to one right now, so I owe you anyway_. Her mouth quirked in the hint of a smile.   
_You’ve saved my life a heap of times, Niyx,_ she reminded him.   
_Then you can owe me one, if it makes you feel better_. He responded, finally letting go of her chin.   
“Are you sure about this?” she asked, speaking out loud again.   
“Yes.” He didn’t hesitate, meeting her gaze as reassuringly as he could. It was hard, he admitted to himself, but he _was_ sure she needed this. He just wasn’t sure whether giving it would take something out of him. Something that this time, she wouldn’t be able to give back. She nodded.   
“Well then, um.” She took a breath and closed her eyes. Nothing happened for a moment, then he felt a tug in his mind, down their connection. Then another, suddenly there was a flare as she _yanked_ her will back, and a resounding _crack!_ As it broke. They both fell backwards into the snow again, and he took a minute lying there, letting the mental pain wash through him, even as he could feel it closing up on the spot, as if it was a break in the skin that was healing rapidly. She sat up a moment after him, raised her hand to her head, then looked at him again.   
“I – I think it worked.” She said.   
“You think?” he asked, incredulous. She cracked a small smile.   
Well, I – I don’t know. Last time it was because he gave me an order and I wouldn’t follow it. But this time, there was no order to focus on, so I just…” she trailed off and shrugged helplessly, but he could understand, he had _felt_ what she did.   
“Aeylia,” he met her eyes, “I command you to stand up.” She stayed sitting.   
“I don’t think I could stand, even if I wanted to.” She admitted. “I’m exhausted.” He nodded agreement,   
“We’ve been through a lot,” he conceded, “but, that shows that it worked. If the Claim was still active, you’d have stood anyway – or, well, tried to stand.” He amended. Her smile grew slightly.   
“And you’re okay?” She asked, her smile shifting to concern.   
“Exhausted,” he admitted, “but I don’t think anything a good night’s sleep and some _laendra_ won’t fix.”   
“That’s good.” She relaxed, but he could see the tension still arcing through her body.   
_Does this mean we’re not linked anymore?_ His eyes widened as he realised that it was not from her mouth that her words had come, but through his mind. She looked at him quizzically.   
_At a guess, I’d say we’re still as linked as before_. He sent back to her, watching her eyes widen as his had a minute ago. On impulse, he watched as she summoned _A’enara_ , and ran it lightly across her knuckles, same as he had done centuries ago to demonstrate their shared pain to her. He watched as his own knuckles matched her cuts, welling with his silver blood. She hastily grabbed a _laendra_ bulb and sliced into it, pouring it on her knuckles, before passing it over to him. He applied some to his wounds, but they were already healing, as hers did.   
_How_? Again, he wasn’t sure if the thought was directed at him, or she just wasn’t aware of where she was thinking – and stars, what an odd sentence that was, he thought.   
“I have no idea, but if I had to guess, I’d say that as I still haven’t accepted your release on me - or for that matter – your release of yourself from me, I suppose, though I don’t know if that would affect it.” He mused. “Even though I Claimed you, the nature of your Release was not by my will, and therefore, I still hold the connection between us from before.” She shook her head, muttering,  
“this is confusing,” before shivering. Niyx realised that while he could handle the cold due to his heightened abilities, she was still, technically, human, and even with the blood of Meyarins coursing through her, it would be worse for her.   
“We need to get out of here.” He told her, standing up again. This time when he offered his hand, she took it and stood, grabbing his shoulder to steady herself. Once she was stable and standing on her own, he looked at her.   
“Everyone else must be extremely worried about you, Kitten.” He told her, “You need to return to the academy and let them know you’re okay.” She nodded, before narrowing her eyes.   
“What about you?” she asked.   
“Aven believes I am dead, so I can’t return to Meya,” he started, ignoring her rolling eyes,   
“State the obvious,” she muttered. He grinned at her again, before continuing,   
“But at the moment I doubt I would be welcomed back to Draekora.” He raised his hand before she could speak, silently asking her to hear him out. She nodded. “That is not currently top of your priority list, nor should it be.” He continued. “Instead, while you heal – and as a result, allow me to heal – I need somewhere in Medora to lay low. Somewhere Aven won’t discover I am alive. Your library is a power beyond even his comprehension, and the grounds surrounding it are well protected.” He ignored the way her eyes lit up. “While I only just discovered that she is still alive, I have recently regained contact with my sister, so I believe it would be good to visit her, catch her up on the actual events of what happened, before she hears to many wild rumours.”   
“You’re coming to the academy?” she asked, smiling, beaming at him.   
“I suppose you could say that, yes, Kitten.” He smirked at her, then called up the _Valispath_. Before it whisked him off, he uttered one last phrase to her.   
“Race you there.”


End file.
